Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Where in the world is SewBarbie?

Well, I've been here,

And there.

"We're having a heatwave"

"Diamonds are a girls best friend"

"One silver dollar"

"Isn't it delicious?"

Carole Lombard was tiny

Back of Lana Turner's gown

Mending a tear

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was thoroughly entertaining! Daniel Radcliff and John Laroquette were so much fun in their roles, we were all laughing and applauding wildly. Then on to the Debbie Reynolds auction of movie memorabilia in Beverly Hills. Do you recognize the first four dresses? All Marilyn Monroe- it's amazing to see them this close and unprotected, I wanted to reach out and touch them, but people were watching. She must have had great charisma to outshine a couple of these outfits. The next dress was worn by Carole Lombard, boy- was she tiny! If I had stood next to it, it would have looked like a child's gown...only very curvy! The green dress was worn by Lana Turner, the mannequin is very small and still the corset doesn't even begin to close- this glamour girl had a teenie little waist. Perhaps I should stop eating for a year or two...

Regarding sewing, which is what we are all interested in- most of the gowns had extensive hand stitches; I would say that the fell stitch was on more gowns than any other. Did you notice the repair on the green dress? I wonder if this happened before or after the filming. I suppose that even the movie seamstresses made mistakes too- now I feel so much better. ;-) It was interesting to see the applied embellishments and the stitches chosen to do so. In many cases the buttonholes were the kind that you might make on a vintage machine. I have an older Bernina 730 that makes these very delicate machine buttonholes. I found the construction details very inspiring. There are lots more pictures that I will share later, so stay tuned.

I am working on a knit dress and will blog that this weekend. My motto for this one is: "Just say NO to bust darts!"

About Me

I love the art of dressmaking and tailoring and am constantly looking for resources to learn new techniques while mastering old ones. My favorite book is Tailoring by Adele P. Margolis, it taught me about the concept of creating a garment which was necessary for me to learn before I could truly understand the "why" of it all. I enjoy making clothes, especially fitted jackets.